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40yo Mom of two boys, ages 13 and 11, affectionately referred to as the Owl and the Rhino. Insecure, neurotic, creative and passionate, my blog is for...
 
 
 
 

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BlogHer '11 Photo Roundup (Or: "You Thought YOU Took Bad Pictures?!")

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So, look, I'm going to put up some BlogHer photos here that include me in them, but only as a public service.

I realize a lot of you may not be on Twitter or Google+ and so didn't see these when I tweeted them, and though my normal reaction to that would be a fervent, "Thank God!" because I look hideous in them, I also know that there are others like me out there.

By which I mean: The Photogenically Challenged. That's right: my name is Viv, and I take bad pictures.

"Some people are taking silly pics. You know, hugging the shoe, kicking their feet up, that kind of thing." --Anonymous PepsiCo Woman  See? You thought I was kidding, didn't you? Even when I was a teen and skinny as a rail, the moment a camera focused on me I'd get this glassy-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights look on my face; pretty much the same dazed expression Michelle Bachman had in this cover photo that caused so much ruckus (I'd rather there was a ruckus about her opinions, but that's another story). You know, that photo that had critics declaring Bachman was a zombie who ate her young? Which, while it might possibly be true in her case, is not kind, people! Oh, yeah, take a look at this pic, over on the Twizzlers Flickr page, too. What was I thinking?! If there was a class on how to pose, or how to look like you aren't posing maybe, or even if someone just stood there holding up a big cue card reminding me "Don't slump, your stomach is sticking out! Watch your posture! Don't blink when the flash goes off," maybe then I could take better pictures and not be mistaken for a zombie caught on film myself.

The lovely Giuliana Rancic, from E! and me, at the Trop 50 booth. Guess which one is me?I have no clue what I am looking at to the bottom right.  Maybe an escape route?

  It really is the pictures and not me, by the way. Honest. I know that I am not generally quite so hideous in Real Life, because people assure me all the timethat my photos, "look nothing like you!" and that, "They don't capture how lovely and vivacious you are!" Okay, so it's actually my Mom that says that. Shut up. I am posting these pics for you, gentle readers, and my fellow photogenically-challenged, so that you will know that you are Not Alone. The things I do for you people. *Sigh*. I had a lovely lady at the Philosophy booth at BlogHer'11 tell me that she held The Secret to taking flattering photos.

She told me AFTER she took this picture. Obviously. She told me that it's because I feel that I am going to take a bad picture that I actually do. She says she never takes bad pics, and it's all because she tells herself beforehand that she takes amazing pictures! Yes, that is the reason. Not because she is gorgeous, and probably 15 years younger than I am in addition to that wonderful confidence. Apparently she can parallel park, too. Okay. So there is one last picture of me that I want to share with you. I don't think this one looks half bad, but it's not because I told myself I took amazing pictures and suddenly *poof!* it was true (like the women in that Star Trek episode that were irresistible to men because they took that pill, remember, and they would suddenly be beautiful, but it turned out that in the end there wasn't anything in the pill, because they had just replaced it with some placebo or something, and really it was their CONFIDENCE that made them beautiful? And, apparently, fixed their hair and makeup and stuff, too?). That's not what happened with me. Here's what did happen: the very busy women at the Lee Jeans booth managed to fit me in* (one of the perks of being a Lee Fit Ambassador! Yay!), and one looked me up and down and asked me what I thought my size was, and then she went over to

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